Discover 110 Shades of Nude with Pantone

Global colour authority PANTONE LLC has launched a new PANTONE® SkinTone™ Guide, the first scientifically based guide for matching and reproducing lifelike skin tones in a variety of industries.

More than 1,000 human skin measurements were collected from participants across a diverse range of ethnicities and age groups. To ensure a universally precise sample, several high-end X-Rite spectrophotometers and PANTONE CAPSURE™, a compact, handheld spectro-colourimeter, were used to measure skin samples.

Based on these measurements, Pantone established an accurate skin colour space and created the PANTONE SkinTone Library, which defines the 110 most reproducible colours.

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Publicis Group senior vice president Victor Basile said: “The new SkinTone Guide and COLOUR MANAGER Software are vital tools for accurately communicating the colour of a model’s skin as it appears when photographed to final colour-correct proofs.

“The guide will help take some of the guesswork out of the colour correction process by providing our experts with a defined system for reaching skin tone colour targets, saving us time and eliminating costly mistakes.”

The SkinTone Guide features 110, 1.75” x 7” pages, each dedicated to its own SkinTone shade for more accurate visualisation. All pages include a small circular cutout so users can hold the guide over the particular skin sample being matched, easing evaluation and improving accuracy.

The SkinTone Guide is arranged from light to dark and utilises an alpha-numeric numbering system that represents both the tone and undertone of each colour – from 1Y01 SP (the lightest yellow tone) to 4R15 SP (the reddest tone).

Pantone director of corporate marketing Giovanni Marra added: “The semi-translucent nature of skin makes measuring and reproducing skin tones in print and manufacturing an extremely challenging process… By starting with actual skin tones and working back to define a SkinTone colour space, we were able to catalog the most realistic and reproducible skin tones.

“In most other colour palettes, the colour ‘nude’ is unfortunately relegated to a few skin colours, but in reality, nature has given us a multitude of beautiful shades of skin. From print, packaging and healthcare to fashion, cosmetics and toy production, the new SkinTone Guide will help companies produce more authentic products in a broader skin tone range.”